Editor’s Note: This article will be continuously updated.
In the Austrian capital Vienna, the police assume that there is an “unspecified risk of attack” in the city and have increased their presence significantly. According to the findings of the domestic news service DSN, an Islamist-motivated attack may be planned.
“Currently, you will increasingly see police forces in the city area, some with special equipment,” it said in a statement on Wednesday morning. “Police officers are equipped with bulletproof helmets and bulletproof vests and an assault rifle. They will carry out surveillance activities and also carry out road traffic checks,” police spokesman Markus Dittrich specified on the ORF radio station Radio Vienna.
The deployment is a “precautionary measure”. Places of worship and neuralgic points are said to be increasingly guarded. The rapid reaction force Wega and the anti-terrorist unit Cobra are also deployed. The duration of the assignment is not certain. There is “no reason to panic,” emphasized spokesman Dittrich. The police called for no rumors to be spread.
The authorities initially did not give any further details about the alleged plans for a terrorist attack in the two-million metropolis.
In November 2020, a terrorist attack took place in Vienna, killing four and injuring 23. The 20-year-old perpetrator was shot dead by the police. He sympathized with the terrorist organization Islamic State.
Sources: Vienna State Police Headquarters, ORF, DPA news agency
